The Dr Who thread

[Little stoned kiwi]

Oh wow, a decent cliff-hanger! Instead of something I watch later in the week during some apathetic downtime I now look forward to the next episode.

Spoiler: show

If this is Clara's exit, will the Doctor go all genocidal? Or, if it is still Clara's exit, will the Doctor show forgiveness and prove me wrong about the predicted brooding?
Look at me! I'm inevested!

[pogo]

Well that was very ordinary. The biggest problem for me was the sheer implausibility of it. I mean if a third the population are shapes hitting aliens who can stun or kill on sight then you have lost already. Even if you found some way to unmask them all instantly all you get is a quick, one-sided massacre.

Apart from that there was far too much running around to no good purpose. All of the foreign jaunts could have been done in the UK in much less time. I guess the padding was added to stretch it out two two parts, which does not bode well for next week. Not every story needs more than an hour to tell.

And the cliffhanger was just ridiculous. They should have at least had the rocket strike the plane. If Missy and Clara can survive being exterminated at point blank range in the first episode of this series The Doctor can survive a rocket attack. I suspect the whole point of the trip to the anonymous Asian county was to put him on the plane for Zygon-Clara to shoot, so they may as well do it properly.

[Little stoned kiwi]

OMG!!! Inconsistencies with reality in a fictional TV show about a alien who travels through time and space!

And the cliffhanger was just ridiculous. They should have at least had the rocket strike the plane..

What, the usual "How will they become not dead" trope I've been whinging about? There was more to this cliff-hanger than just the rocket at the plane, the last 10 minutes had events effecting everyone. I love that the story is more substantial than having all of time and space revolving around the Doctor and Clara.

[Harlequin]

Implausibility in a Doctor Who story?

Tell me it is not so. There will be campness and even silliness next. It might even start to show signs of whimsicality!

I think we know the Doctor is not going to die halfway though a story. The question is by what means he is going to avoid it.

[Darkflame]

Been away a bit (social network overload, actually got work done)

But my summery of this season is I think its been really strong. 2 parter format working well for these stories. Liking the "ageing rocker" approach more then the "am I good?" stuff from last season.

Well that was very ordinary. The biggest problem for me was the sheer implausibility of it. I mean if a third the population are shapes hitting aliens who can stun or kill on sight then you have lost already. Even if you found some way to unmask them all instantly all you get is a quick, one-sided massacre.

I think they said 25 million total no? Also isnt the point they arnt all militant, only a faction. (of which I don't think we know the size)

[Dio]

Finally caught up. Not bad, although the analogy was waaay too heavy handed for my taste.

I was quite intrigued by the Hartnell picture.

[Baggypants]

Those 'crack' troops were all terribly shit though

I think it's a U.N.I.T thing. They were terrible in the Third Doctors time so it's keeping it internally consistent.

[Baggypants]

And the cliffhanger was just ridiculous. They should have at least had the rocket strike the plane. If Missy and Clara can survive being exterminated at point blank range in the first episode of this series The Doctor can survive a rocket attack. I suspect the whole point of the trip to the anonymous Asian county was to put him on the plane for Zygon-Clara to shoot, so they may as well do it properly.

erm.. Children's telly? There's been a rocket attack on a plane recently? Parents travel on planes?

[Mayhem]

I think they said 25 million total no? Also isnt the point they arnt all militant, only a faction. (of which I don't think we know the size)

Yes, and as stated, lots of them were shipped to other countries. There weren't huge numbers left in the UK as a result, they've been dispersed around the world.

erm.. Children's telly? There's been a rocket attack on a plane recently? Parents travel on planes?

Who knows why that Russian plane has come down in the Sinai...

[Darkflame]

they've been dispersed around the world.

Which would make them even more outnumbered if their cover was blown. Remember I was replying to Pogo, who thought it was implausible to have any chance even if they were all unmasked.

I'm not a military expert, but if video games have taught me anything outnumbering isn't a linear effect, its a exponential one - keep your tropes together if you can.

[pogo]

they've been dispersed around the world.

Which would make them even more outnumbered if their cover was blown. Remember I was replying to Pogo, who thought it was implausible to have any chance even if they were all unmasked.

I thought they were still mostly in the UK. Clearly I missed or misunderstood that point. It was also unclear how the Zygons were situated, as in what their intentions and attitudes are. Are the vast majority peaceful and happy, just wanting to get on with their lives pretending to be humans? Or are they just waiting for someone to take charge and tell them to launch an invasion? Far too much badly written exposition. The Zygons are supposed to be scary, but we hardly see them. We get told about them instead.

[Little stoned kiwi]

Small terrorist cells and guerrilla warfare are an ideal strategy for shape-shifters. They can infiltrate all levels of society. After making a hit they can pick a different form and melt back into society over and over. When people become aware infiltrators are in their midst the paranoia does the terrorist's job for them. If a method of identifying Zygons is developed, that uncovers all of them (extremist or not) and leads to an all out war as there's no way to determine an extremist from a pacifist.
It wouldn't matter if there was only as few as 1000 extremists causing trouble out the 20 million.

[Harlequin]

I thought they were still mostly in the UK. Clearly I missed or misunderstood that point. It was also unclear how the Zygons were situated, as in what their intentions and attitudes are. Are the vast majority peaceful and happy, just wanting to get on with their lives pretending to be humans? Or are they just waiting for someone to take charge and tell them to launch an invasion? Far too much badly written exposition. The Zygons are supposed to be scary, but we hardly see them. We get told about them instead.

That the extremists are a small minority of Zygon youth among a mostly content populace was, I thought, a central point of the plot that was made very clear. The Doctor feared that the bombing would cause radicalisation among more of that generation.

[Darkflame]

It wouldn't matter if there was only as few as 1000 extremists causing trouble out the 20 million.

It wouldn't matter in so far as mass panic/potential confrontations goes - but then any uncovering of aliens hiding amongst us would do that, regardless of if they did anything against us.
The numbers do play a large part in if it would stay was "skirmish between races" or "mass war" though. (as well as who would win that war)

[Harlequin]

It wouldn't matter if there was only as few as 1000 extremists causing trouble out the 20 million.

It wouldn't matter in so far as mass panic/potential confrontations goes - but then any uncovering of aliens hiding amongst us would do that, regardless of if they did anything against us.
The numbers do play a large part in if it would stay was "skirmish between races" or "mass war" though. (as well as who would win that war)

If most of those twenty million were perceived as hostile monsters by humans in general, and subsequently treated as such, full conflict might seem inevitable.